A photolithography tool includes at least one process chamber, at least one front opening unified pod (FOUP) stage, at least one moving mechanism, and an image sensor. The moving mechanism is configured to move the wafer from the process chamber to the FOUP stage. The image sensor is configured to capture the image of the wafer on the moving mechanism.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A photolithography tool, comprising: at least one process chamber; at least one front opening unified pod (FOUP) stage; at least one moving mechanism configured to move at least one wafer from the process chamber to the FOUP stage; an image sensor configured to capture an image of the wafer on the moving mechanism; a detector configured to detect whether the wafer is present within a field of view of the image sensor; and an actuator configured to actuate the image sensor to capture the image of the wafer when the wafer is detected to be present within the field of view of the image sensor.
2. The photolithography tool of claim 1 , further comprising: a light source configured to illuminate the wafer on the moving mechanism.
3. The photolithography tool of claim 2 , wherein the actuator is configured to actuate the light source to illuminate the wafer on the moving mechanism.
4. The photolithography tool of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is an area image sensor.
5. The photolithography tool of claim 1 , wherein the image sensor is a charge-coupled device (CCD) or an active-pixel sensor (APS).
6. The photolithography tool of claim 1 , further comprising: a processing unit configured to compare the image of the wafer with a reference image and determine whether the wafer is acceptable based on the comparison between the image of the wafer and the reference image.
7. The photolithography tool of claim 1 , wherein the process chamber is configured to form a photoresist on the wafer, and the image sensor is configured to capture the image of the wafer with the photoresist thereon.
8. A photolithography tool, comprising: at least one process chamber; at least one front opening unified pod (FOUP) stage; at least one transportation space communicating the FOUP stage with the process chamber; at least one moving mechanism present in the transportation space; an image sensor present in the transportation space; a detector configured to detect whether a wafer is present within the transportation space; and an actuator configured to actuate the image sensor to capture an image of the wafer when the wafer is detected to be present within the transportation space.
9. The photolithography tool of claim 8 , further comprising: a light source present in the transportation space.
10. The photolithography tool of claim 9 , wherein the light source is configured to provide light with a wavelength greater than about 365 nm.
11. The photolithography tool of claim 8 , wherein the image sensor is an area image sensor.
12. The photolithography tool of claim 8 , wherein the image sensor is a charge-coupled device (CCD) or an active-pixel sensor (APS).
13. The photolithography tool of claim 8 , further comprising: a processing unit electrically connected to the image sensor, wherein the image sensor is configured to capture an image of the wafer in the transportation space, and the processing unit is programmed to compare the image of the wafer with a reference image and determine whether the wafer is acceptable based on the comparison between the image of the wafer and the reference image.
14. The photolithography tool of claim 8 , wherein the detector is in the transportation space.
15. A photolithography method, comprising: forming a photoresist on a wafer in at least one process chamber; moving the wafer from the process chamber to a front opening unified pod (FOUP) stage; detecting whether the wafer is present within a field of view of an image sensor; and capturing an image of the wafer by the image sensor when the wafer is moved from the process chamber to the FOUP stage and when the wafer is detected to be present within the field of view of the image sensor.
16. The photolithography method of claim 15 , further comprising: illuminating the wafer when performing the capturing of the image of the wafer.
17. The photolithography method of claim 15 , wherein the forming the photoresist on the wafer comprises: applying the photoresist on the wafer; exposing the photoresist to a pattern of light; and developing the exposed photoresist, wherein the capturing the image of the wafer is performed after the developing the exposed photoresist.
18. The photolithography method of claim 15 , further comprising: detecting whether the wafer leaves the process chamber, wherein the capturing the image of the wafer is performed after the wafer is detected to have left the process chamber.
19. The photolithography method of claim 15 , further comprising: comparing the image of the wafer with a reference image; and determining whether the wafer is acceptable based on the comparing the image of the wafer.
20. The photolithography method of claim 15 , wherein the capturing the image of the wafer comprises: capturing a plurality of parts of the image of the wafer; and combining the parts of the image of the wafer to form a whole image of the wafer.
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October 30, 2015
November 7, 2017
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